Pretty Cure Precious Heart
by Cinnamon Crepe
Summary: #Fan series# A shy eighth grader with a love of fantasy, and an energetic girl forced to move to a strange country. When they agree to help a creature from another world find his lost sister, they never expected to become the warriors of Ivorian legend.
1. The Bright Red Jewel is Here!

It's a highly picturesque scene - the northern lights dancing from above in the navy blue sky, dyeing the snow on the ground beautiful shades of green and pink. Everything seems to sparkle, and one wouldn't want to miss the chance to view this rare miracle of nature.

What a disappointment, then, that Apple was asleep through it.

The child had taken shelter in a cavern, memories of the past few days floating through his head. The images themselves were blurred and distorted, but the sounds were so vivid you would swear they were real. The deafening footsteps of the monster weren't even overpowered by the screams around him, and he struggled to dodge the debris being thrown about. And out of nowhere came a young girl's piercing screams as she was rapidly pulled away from him...

An icicle began to drip on his head, and gradually he awoke. Margarine...he had to find his sister...and to do that he had to find Pretty Cure. His grandparents had always told him the souls of these heroes could be found at the top of the world, and he'd decided he was going to find them. He groggily got up; he had a long journey ahead of him.

Then he saw the aurora above him, and gasped. Could it be that he'd already made it?! If he squinted, he could barely make out the temple on the horizon. He was so close! Just a few more yards and he would be there. He felt an anxious feeling in his stomach; this had been his dream for as long as he could remember. He found himself running toward it, and tripped over himself when he realized. _Just take your time...it's not going anywhere..._

Finally, he approached the entrance to the sacred building. It was virtually untouched, and the snow even seemed to dodge it so as not to damage it. Apple was trembling as he approached the staircase; take one step, then another. He tried to focus on just that, but it was almost as if he could feel the souls as he approached them. The door opened with a _creeeeaaaaak..._

The interior was nothing special. The building was entirely made of faded wood, and was almost completely empty. Only in the center was a pillar holding up a frosted glass dome. He exhaled, his breath showing in the cold. The translucent glass blocked the spirits from view, but oddly he could _feel _them. It was just like feeling the presence of a person.

At first his feet wouldn't move. This was a sacred item, he shouldn't be allowed to even look at it! But then, he didn't really have a choice. And he began walking toward the dome with stiff, awkward legs. Before he knew it, his hands were pressed against the glass, and he closed his eyes, concentrating. He tried to remember the Pretty Cure poem that had been engraved in his mind since childhood, but all that came out was stammering. He took a deep breath, and tried again.

"Puru...so it was...and so it...is..." Suddenly the fear building up began to rapidly melt away, and soon he realized his lips were moving on their own. "Pretty Cure has made the hidden visible, and driven away those with malicious intent. When evil rises from its prison in the shadows, they shall come again to drive it away once and for all..."

The dome began to glow a faint white, and he gasped. No amount of magic could hide it anymore; he was scared. Everything was becoming more and more based on instinct. It was almost like he wasn't himself anymore! But then...

_Margie-chan..._

No. He had to be brave. He didn't care what happened to him, as long as he could save his sister! He tried to speak once again. "Pretty Cure..." Although he tried to hold it back, tears began to stream down his face. "Please...help me-puru...please!"

Without warning he heard a large crack, and upon looking up, found with panic that the roof was about to cave in. He quickly tucked himself under the glass dome, just as the debris started falling around him. Opening his eyes, he observed his surroundings, and noticed that the entire ceiling had opened up to reveal the northern lights.

Just as he did, the dome above him began to glow intensely. Startled, he quickly backed into a wall, his eyes fixated on the pillar in fear and awe. The aurora had condensed itself into a beam and aimed at the glass, and gradually the glow became stronger. Soon the glass outright shattered, and the shards rapidly fused together to create three floating gems - a red sphere, a violet heart, and a yellow rhombus.

The trembling Apple watched them glow brighter and brighter. Were these really the souls of Pretty Cure? But what were they doing exactly? And why did he feel so lightheaded...?

He looked down at the floor and nearly fainted. He...his feet were glowing, too! Even stranger, he couldn't feel anything in his feet anymore. He reached toward his right foot; his hand went right through. He started to panic. What was happening to him?!

Almost immediately it began to spread, and the room of rainbow colors became less clear. At this point the gems had lost any distinguishable shape. Was he becoming a light like them? The world was spinning around him...he couldn't think... But he had to find his sister! He couldn't let this hold him back!

_Margie-chan...I'll find you...I'll get back to normal and I'll find you...!_

Finally the light went over his ears, and he was compressed into a sphere shape. All of a sudden the three gems shot up into the starry sky...and without warning, he did as well. He screamed at the intense speed he was traveling at. The four lights took off into the center of the aurora, and disappeared.

---

It was around the middle of the night when Jordan Rinne's eyes suddenly snapped open.

It wasn't that she wasn't sleepy. After a long flight over the Pacific Ocean all afternoon, how could you not be? It seemed like something had went _zap _in her brain and forced her to wake up.

She glanced at her digital clock, its bright red letters the only thing illuminating the room. Exactly midnight. She should've been sleeping right now, but out of boredom, she opened the window curtains and looked out at her new neighborhood.

The city lights of Tokyo looked like stars behind the entirely dark streets below. It certainly wasn't Melbourne, but there were at least some similarities. She had always been a city girl. Thank god they hadn't moved to some Japanese Ruralville.

She nodded to herself. That was a good start. And the language? She would catch on to that eventually. That's what school is for, right? And finding friends wouldn't be hard in the country with the highest population density in the world...

Yes. Yes, she could definitely get used to this. She was starting to like Japan already.

Finally she plopped back into bed, wanting tomorrow to come as soon as possible. As long as she stayed positive, she thought, things would _be _positive, right? It had worked before. She hoped it wasn't just an Australian thing. Finally, after one more look at the starry sky, she pulled the curtains shut.

"Good night...my new home."

She looked away just as four multi-colored shooting stars zipped through the sky.

---

The room was pitch black. Apart from a red light in the dead center of the floor, there was nothing but darkness. As inconvenient as this made things, he knew his master would refuse to change it. The darkness, after all, was what he loved most. It made him calm, relaxed. Or at least as calm and relaxed as someone as irritable as him could be.

But as dark as it was, his master was not satisfied. He wanted more blackness, more pain. This, Blake supposed, was why he was taken as his servant. And why he had been given these abilities...

"Servant."

He cringed at the sound of the artificial voice, but quickly pushed back any signs of nervousness. His master could sense fear as if it was pure sunlight in this black room. "Yes, master. I am listening for your orders."

"Have we not gone over this already?" Sigh...that irritated tone of voice again. "You must gather the negative energy of others. Upon being brought back it will be broken down and converted. And this is exactly the sort of power I desire! Do you understand that?"

"Yes, master. I understand."

He thought he could hear a sigh for a moment, until his master finally continued speaking.

"Now go, quickly. Or the punishment will be severe."

He left without hesitation. If this was his fate, he supposed he would have to accept it. If his purpose was to gather this energy...

_I will not fail you, master._

---

"So, this is Kinkiku Junior High..."

The school building in front of Jordan certainly looked normal. It was the amount of Japanese people surrounding her that she wasn't used to. But then, she was in Japan, so what else was she supposed to expect? She didn't really mind that she was the only foreigner here.

She did wish the uniform was better, though. The lopsided buttons certainly made her open jacket look odd. And green and brown weren't exactly her favorite colors...

But who was she to complain? Everyone was wearing the same thing anyway. As long as she got decent grades, she would be great! She rushed into the front doors and through the halls, eager to start the day.

"Miss, we don't allow..."

Jordan skitted to a halt, and turned around to the teacher addressing her. He looked surprised to see her face.

"Oh...I'm sorry, you're the transfer student, aren't you?" He did a slight bow. "Sorry, I thought someone had dyed their hair brown. You can be on your way."

She sighed. That would probably be happening all day. But hey, if she was lucky, it would be the only nuisance, right?

---

It was certainly not the only nuisance.

Almost immediately upon entering the classroom, fellow students bombarded her with pointless questions about if she spoke English and how big her house was and whether brown was her natural hair color. She could barely understand anything being taught, especially not Japanese class. And her lunch had just been a darned peanut butter sandwich! No chips or anything! She had to admit, the whole positive-thinking thing could be really difficult sometimes...

Finally science class was over, and she was about to begin packing up when the teacher said something about cleaning. _Cleaning? _The travel guides hadn't said anything about cleaning. Did they not have janitors in Japan? Maybe she could sneak out...

Making sure the teacher wasn't looking, she snuck over to the door with a handkerchief. She rubbed on the glass, trrying to look as if she was cleaning it. She went into the hallway and began wiping the other side...then, when no one was looking, made a run for it! Her papers flew through the halls until she was finally out of the building.

"Yes!" She threw a fist in the air. It was so good to feel the fresh air again! Wait, the windows in the classroom had been open, hadn't they? Well, the sheer boringness must've poisoned it or something...

It was at that moment that she noticed another girl about her age reading a book by the gates. Come to think of it, she remembered seeing her in the classroom, too. She was fairly easy to distinguish, being the only student that didn't have straight hair.

Actually, she was pretty much the only classmate that hadn't been stalking her all day. Jordan smiled; there was one good thing about the day! She should thank her or something like that...

"Hey, you!"

The young girl looked up with a blank expression, as if she was bewildered that someone would actually be talking to her. Her hair fell over her face, and she daintily pushed it back. This girl was actually kind of pretty.

Back on topic. "Thanks for not being all weird with me today," Jordan said. "What's your name, anyway?"

She took a while to respond. "Ki...Kitakaze."

"Ah, nice to meet you!" Silence; she couldn't think of anything to say, so she decided to leave. "Well, see you!"

---

The walk home was rather uneventful. Jordan still didn't quite know her way around the city, and found herself losing her sense of direction around its center. She was getting really frustrated. Nothing was going well for her! No; she shouldn't be thinking like that. Positive thinking, positive thinking...

It wasn't long before she wandered into the city park, and without thinking sat on a nearby bench, trying to sort everything out. She really wasn't catching on to the language, especially the writing. She could barely read the sign in front of the school! Classes didn't be seeming to help, either. She began stroking the object next to her as she thought. Maybe she could get someone to teach her...

...Wait. What was she petting?

She looked to see a stuffed animal in a sleeping bear position. A teddy bear, perhaps? She couldn't think of anything else it might be, but this wasn't your typical teddy bear. For one thing, it had a cowlick, and its eyes were _huge..._

She felt bad for the kid who left it here, though, she thought to herself as she began to stroke its stomach. It was kind of cute!

Then she noticed something and gasped, jerking away her hand. Had its stomach just moved a bit?

Cautiously, she laid her hand on it again. At that point she almost screamed. It was _breathing._

"Oh my god...it's alive!"

Suddenly the creature began to stir awake. She tried to stay as quiet as possible, hoping it would ball asleep again, but it didn't work. He groggily stretched his eyes open, which were a deep brown, and let out a high-pitched yawn. He mumbled something in his tiny voice that sounded vaguely like "Did I fall asleep again...?"

After a while his eyes shot open, and he gazed at his surroundings in confusion, becoming especially tense when he laid eyes on the girl staring at him. His little body started to tremble. "Where am I-puru...what...what are you-puru?!"

So this creature was from another world? Crap, how did you say 'human' in Japanese again? She rubbed her head trying to think of the answer.

"Um...homo...sapi...E-Earth?"

The little bear cocked his head, repeating the word to himself. Jordan cringed; it sounded like a dirty word when he said it. Dang Japanese accents. But what was she supposed to do? He just kept on staring at her with those big ol' eyes.

"Wow...you're so tall-puru..." He looked in disappointment at his own stubby legs. "I wish I was taller. 'Cause...Pretty Cure is supposed to be tall-puru."

She decided to start a conversation with him. Maybe she would become at least a little bit used to it that way. "What's a Pretty Cure?" It sounded overly girly and sugary, but she wouldn't say that out loud.

His eyes widened into saucers, if that was even possible considering how enormous they already were. "You don't know Pretty Cure?!" She shook her head, and the little creature sighed, deep in his own thoughts.

"They're legendary warriors...from a long time ago-puru," he began. "And I gotta find 'em 'cause...'cause..." For a second he froze, then he swallowed, as if trying to hold back tears. "The monsters took my sister-puru. They took her, and she was crying..."

Gosh, that sounded terrible! No wonder the little guy was so nervous all the time. She stroked the boy's head as he sniffled. The emotional moment was interrupted by the sound of a tiny stomach grumbling.

"Aaah...I haven't eaten in a while-puru..." he blushed. He stuck his head in the bag next to him looking for something to eat, and ended up falling to the bottom, struggling to bury himself out of spare food and winter clothing from the trip. Jordan quickly pulled him out, and found that he had grabbed a pink cellphone-like device.

"Well, what's that you've got there?" She smiled awkwardly as the bear stared at the phone in confusion. "Puru...this wasn't in there before..."

"Can I try it?" Before he could answer, she snatched it from him and began playing with it. He panicked, and without thinking, starting shouting.

"No, that's for Pretty Cure-puru!"

She looked at him with an annoyed face. "How do you know that?!"

Just when he was about to answer, he realized that he didn't have one. He _didn't _know how he knew that. "I...I dunno where that came from-puru..."

"Oh?" No matter how many times she ruby-esque power button on the back, the phone wouldn't turn on for her. "What model is this, anyway?"

"S-SparkTouch." The creature suddenly covered his mouth. What had just happened? The name had come so naturally to him. As if he had always known it.

"Well, it doesn't work." She handed the phone back to him, and the moment it landed in his hands it stirred to life, and he became startled and dropped it. A screensaver with a red circle in the center flickered onto the screen.

They were both silent for a moment, then the creature finally declared, "...I gotta go find Pretty Cure!" He picked up the phone and began to walk away, before Jordan stopped him.

"Do you even know where to start?!"

He stopped in his tracks, this odd feeling of instinct catching him off guard again. "I don't know this place-puru..." he mumbled in confusion.

Jordan giggled. Poor little guy didn't have a clue what he was doing. She didn't either, but two heads were better than one, right? She didn't have much else to do anyway...

"You know, if it's that important to you..." she began, kneeling down off the bench. "I don't know this city too well, either, but I could help you."

His eyes brightened instantly, as he looked at her with surprise. "Really? _Really?!_"

"Sure, you don't have to do it alone or anything!"

"...I _don't_?!" The poor kid actually thought that? She could sort of see why, but surely the Pretty Cure Gods or whoever would at least find someone to assist him.

"Um...I think there's an observatory building nearby," she continued. "It'll be easy to search from way high up like that..."

At first there was an awkward silence, then the creature stammered out a 'thank you,' falling face-flat on the ground when attempting to bow. Jordan chuckled and carefully placed him on his feet, at which point he felt compelled to ask.

"Um...what's your name-puru?"

"Oh, mine?" She pondered on which order to give them. "Um...Rinne Jordan. Jordan Rinne. Jordan is fine. And yours?"

"A-Apple."

"Apple?!" What a cute name! It made her hungry. Boy, did she want some apple pie right about now... "Well, Apple, we should get going!"

She decided to pick him up and set him on her shoulders, and he yelped in surprise. "It's so high from up here-purup! You really are tall-puru!"

"Why do you do that, anyway?" she asked as she walked toward the center of the town.

"What do you mean-puru?"

"Purupurupuru...why do you do that?"

"Ah...I, um..." He blushed. "I can stop-puru...ah! I did it again-puru! AH! Pu...pu...pu...PURU! Aaah..."

Jordan giggled. "Okay, okay, you're gonna hurt yourself doing that!" It seemed like it was a bad habit of his. Maybe she could train him out of it later. Once closer to the city, she took a quick glance at her surroundings, and with that they were off.

---

"Are...are you sure we're safe up here-puru?"

"Sure we are! This is thick glass!" Or at least, Jordan was pretty sure it was. Thick walls called for thick glass, right? "Now open your eyes before you _do _fall."

Reluctantly Apple let his eyelids up...and was amazed. The view was stunning! Tall buildings went on for miles and miles, punctuated by a picturesque lilac-colored mountain standing majestically in the distance. He realized how long it had been since he'd seen a sky this clear.

"Well?"

"It's so pretty-puru..." 'Pretty' didn't sound like the right word. It was more than pretty, much more than just pleasing to the eyes. "It's really big-puru...this Earth place..."

"Ain't it?" she agreed, trying not to laugh at his unusual pronounciation. "Does anyone down there look like a Pretty Cure to ya?"

He squinted to see all the people walking down the streets...they all looked like little ants, and none of them particularly stood out in any way. "Ah...I dunno-puru..."

"Well, what does Pretty Cure look like?"

"I...I dunno-puru! It depends on who's telling the story-puru!" What did Pretty Cure really look like all those years ago? Did anyone really know? "Um...I guess they should be tall...and strong, and...and graceful..."

Jordan nodded. "Tall" would certainly be easy to look for; "strong" and "graceful" would be a bit more complicated, so she decided she'd have to find all the tall people first and narrow it down from there. Looking around, though, Japanese people weren't very tall...

"Hey, Puru-chan...is there a specific height, or does the legend just say 'tall?' ...Puru-chan?"

She gasped; he had disappeared from her shoulders! He could get caught that way! And she certainly wasn't ready to let him go. She ran around the observatory floor, trying to find the speck of brown and yellow in a sea of tourists. "Puru-chan! Puru-chaaan!"

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she found him - held in the grasp of a young man, no older than perhaps very early 20s. Despite his young age, his hair was a very grayish brown, and his face was almost entirely expressionless; Jordan could see how she didn't see him so many times, he blended in so much.

"Now, I know you have this energy in your possession," he spoke in a deadpan tone, holding the child by the neck as he tried to protect his worn-out little bag. "If you hand them over willingly, any conflict will be avoided."

"I...I can't-puru..." Apple muttered, his fearful eyes flashing to their blank instinctual mode every so often. "They're not yours...they belong to Pretty Cure-puru..."

The man sighed, his patience being tested. "You're a fool to hurt yourself like this." He tightened his grip ever so slightly. "Why do you depend on legends and fairy tales when your life is at stake? Whatever items you have, hand them over."

"I...aaah..."

"Hey, what are ya doin'?!"

There was an odd silence as Jordan continued. "For pete's sake, he's just a kid! Leave him alone and get your energy or whatever somewhere else!"

The man turned his head toward her, his expression never faltering once. "You know better than to get involved in what is not of your concern. I encourage you to leave immediately." He flexed his other hand, and his knuckles made a rather disturbing cracking sound as it curled into a loose fist.

She shuddered; it figured that someone like this would have such horror movie-esque hands. She quickly snatched Apple back, trying to comfort the trembling child whilst simultaneously driving this strange person away. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but if you even try to get him involved..."

He only chuckled. "Well, I guess I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way." He flexed his hand again, and she became oddly fascinated by the bony, lanky fingers...wait a second. Was that..._fur? _Why was he...oh my god...

Her eyes were fixated on the man as he mutated into some sort of bat creature. Half of her wanted to run away so badly, yet her feet didn't want to cooperate. What sort of person was this?!

"Jordan-san! It's...it's one of _them_-puru!"

Her trance was finally broken by Apple's cries. "One of..."

"The Hidden! Th-The monsters!" he exclaimed. "They came here too-puru!"

Monsters? The ones that took his sister? If this man was the monster, she had expected something at least a bit taller...

Just as she was thinking that, the strange person threw a midnight-colored handkerchief against a drinking fountain bolted to the wall. Without warning a cloud of smoke formed, and it began to rapidly form itself into a metal monster. It grew so tall that its head burst through the skyscraper's roof, and the crowd around her immediately started to panic.

_Oh..._that's _what he meant..._

Jordan froze in place. Why wasn't she panicking? Why wasn't she running away like the others?! That's what she should've been doing, right? But...she couldn't just abandon everyone like this, especially Apple. And if they had taken his sister, they could take others, too! She couldn't let that happen. She had to something. And she found this feeling becoming more and more intense the more she thought about it. Her hands curled into trembling fists; do something, you idiot, _do something_!

With a shout of "MEITOUMEEEEIII!," the monster shattered the window in front of her, and that was the last straw. Without thinking, she grabbed the nearest trash can and charged toward it, never looking back. Even though the hits across his back damaged the garbage can more than the Meitoumei, Apple vigorously cheered on from the sidelines, mostly just to keep himself from fainting in terror.

Then he jumped at the sight of a red light in the corner of his eye. From his bag? He looked down; the SparkTouch from earlier kept flickering on and off, with the light lasting longer and becoming more intense each time. Eventually it started trying to _move, _banging against the leather fabric toward the window. He grabbed it just as it began to puncture the fabric. Why was it acting so strange?! He couldn't lose it now! He hadn't even gotten a chance to find Pretty Cure...

_...Pretty...Cure..._?

At that moment a vivid image began to take shape in Apple's mind. He could see the radiant silhouette of what appeared to be one of the fabled warriors, flying out from a bed of glowing flames with an almost angelic beauty. It was a magnificent image on its own, but something about it really bothered him. Maybe it was just his imagination, but the heroine bore a striking resemblance to his new friend...

"J-Jordan-san...?" Hesitantly he turned his head to the fight behind him. The similarity was uncanny! He could hardly believe it. But in her brown eyes he could vividly see the flames from his dream. His hands shook as he held the SparkTouch; he knew she should have it, but he certainly didn't want to approach the monster. But it was quickly becoming harder and harder to resist, overwhelming intuition taking over. He had to give it to her. _He had to give it to her._

Finally he found himself running toward the girl, shouting "Jordan-san! Jordan-san!" and keeping his eyes shut tight so he wouldn't run away at the last second. Jordan blinked; what was Apple worried about now?

"This...this is for you-puru!" The light from the cellphone shone directly in her eyes, and she immediately shielded them. Why was it so shiny all of a sudden? "Why are you giving it to me? Isn't that for Pretty Cure?" She felt a stream of water on her head, and groaned; it was so hard to keep a conversation when there was a monster behind you.

"But it's yours, isn't it?" He gave her a stare that looked as if he had just met her. "'Cause...'cause Jordan-san is..."

Suddenly the sound of "Meitoumeeeiii!" filled their ears, and before they could even realize it, the Meitoumei's massive arm had knocked them from the edge of the window, and they were falling to their doom.

---

~Eyecatch~

(can't think of an eyecatch sorry)

---

Oh my god. She was going to die, wasn't she?! No, no, don't think like that! Positive thinking, positive thinking...oh, who was she kidding? What could possibly be positive about falling to one's death? Even in freefall she could hear Apple's cries from above. Well, this would be a tragic end for him, wouldn't it? For the both of them, actually. So much for his sister, too...

But...she couldn't let that happen! She just couldn't! She had barely gotten a chance to help him! Please let a miracle save them right now, please please _please_...

Then, at that very moment, the SparkTouch came flying toward her. She caught it on reflex as it fell toward her face, its reflection in her eyes again. Suddenly she felt a huge wave of warmth go through her, and her fear dissolved away like snowflakes. As the phone glowed brighter and brighter, her mind started to go blank, and she instinctively reached for the button on the back. Her mouth was quivering, as if something was desperate to come out...

"P-Pretty Cure Spark Aura!"

Before she had the chance to ask herself what was going on, she was enveloped by the radiant reddish light coming from the SparkTouch. It began to swirl around her, and Apple watched in awe as the silhouette inside rapidly changed. He inhaled a gasp; to think, Pretty Cure had been right in front of him all this time!

He was so entranced by the magic in front of him that he nearly forgot he was falling. Unfortunately he made the mistake of looking down, and his amazement was replaced by terror. He screamed as his eyes met the pavement below, but to his surprise his view was soon blocked by...a hand?

He looked up, and gasped. Ohmigosh...there was no way...it couldn't be...but it was!!! The legendary warrior struck a pose, her pink skirt and the bow on her chest flitting with her dynamic motions, and her determined gaze unfaltering.

"The blazing heart of a bright red jewel, Cure Garnet!"

_This is...Pretty Cure...? _Yes. Yes, this was Cure Garnet. There was no way this heroine could be the Jordan Rinne he met in the park. She looked...stronger, prettier, maybe even older. The magenta minidress and legwarmers didn't exactly help, either. Yet although her eyes had become a deep red, they still had that fiery stare he had seen on Jordan earlier. It was very, very strange; they were the same, yet at the same time two entirely different people.

The Meitoumei slashed an arm at her, which she gracefully dodged, placing Apple safely on the pavement beforehand of course. Soon she was actually _flying, _and delivered a kick smack-dab in the monster's back head. It tried to grab her, but she spun around and around until it was dizzy, and then punched it in the stomach.

It shouted its name once again. Oh boy, now it was angry. Finally it managed to swat her, and despite being slammed against another building, she landed perfectly on her feet, ready for the next attack. Even as the bat boy from earlier glided down from above and approached her, she still kept her offensive stance.

"Why must you interfere with what is not your concern, girl?" Although he maintained his deadpan tone of voice, it was still evident he was irritated. The heroine's reply was immediate, and the firmness of her statement would've made anyone else shudder. "It was my concern then...it's the same now! Wherever the hope of others may be in danger, I'll be there!"

He folded his winged arms and smirked. "'The hope of others?' Who in their right mind would care for something as worthless as that?" He sighed. "Who do you think you are, getting in others' business like this?"

The words "protector of dream and legend, Pretty Cure" very nearly came out of her mouth. But then a part of her - a part of her that had been pushed back some time ago - overheard this, and something about it just didn't seem right to her. No...that wasn't right, was it? She was...was...Jordan Rinne, wasn't she? But she was Pretty Cure right now. But...no no _no_! Why on earth would she...be...

For the first time her fiery stare faltered as Jordan regained control, and glanced down at herself at confusion. How'd she get into these clothes...? Memories of the past few minutes rapidly dawned on her; she grapsed her head. _Oh...my..._

Just then she felt a titanium arm come at her, and she was sent flying for yards until she crashed into the back wall of a storage building nearby. She struggled to get up, her mind spinning so badly she barely noticed the bruising on her back. This couldn't really be happening, could it? She just couldn't understand how she could be this warrior...what was it called, 'Pretty Cure'...?

"Pu-puru..."

Her thinking was interrupted by the sound of the little bear in minor pain. She yelped and quickly dusted him off, realizing she had been smashed against him. "Puru-chan! You okay?"

Apple moaned, still not quite sure what was real and what he was imagining. "Ga...Garnet-sama..."

"Garnet-sama?!" Why was he calling her that now? Then again, she thought she remembered saying something about garnets...or something like that. Burning hearts or something along those lines, right? Oh, she could barely remember it! "Puru-chan...what happened to me back there?"

He gave her a confused look. "Garnet-sama...Jordan-san is Pretty Cure, right-puru?"

"What do you mean 'right'?"

"You didn't know-puru?!"

"How was I supposed to know?!" She sighed. "Oh man, what do I do..."

There was a brief silence as Apple tried to sort everything out. "You were fighting so good before, though-puru...so..."

"I don't think that was really _me,_" she mumbled, dragging her fingers across the floor. "That was Cure Garnet, not Jordan Rinne."

"Oh...I think I get it-puru," he exclaimed, plopping onto the floor. "I'm confused, too-puru.

Knowing all this stuff an' everything...sometimes it feels like someone else is thinking for me-puru." Jordan nodded; he pretty much had it down perfectly.

"But...but...I think the spirits are trying to help-puru!" He yelped at the stare she gave him; obviously she wasn't expecting that. "Um...I think we need to know these things to get where we want to go-puru. But since we don't...I guess that's why-puru..."

Once again it was silent. Jordan looked at herself again. An odd warm feeling was flowing through her; from what she could remember, it had first appeared the moment she caught the SparkTouch, and quickly intensified from there. Was this some sort of magic? Whatever it was, it felt amazing, gradually helping her relax. Suddenly she realized; she was being given a chance to fight, to protect the people around her.

She giggled and got back on her feet. "I think I kinda like this!" She sensed Apple's smile from behind her, and made sure to smile back before rushing out and striking the Meitoumei from behind.

The monster punched the pavement in frustration, causing the equivalent of a small earthquake; was it just her, or did it seem bigger now? Well, no matter; she began to charge toward it, and managed to dent its stomach a bit. As it blindly ran toward her, she delivered a 360-kick to its chest, weakening it significantly.

As she pulled off another graceful landing, she felt a sudden surge of magic, forming in her chest and moving out to her arms. Something inside told her it was time to finish this thing off, and as she released the power, she felt little glass stars form in her hands.

"Feel the power of a blazing heart! Pretty Cure Scarlet Star!!" Jordan tossed the stars toward its head, burning up like asteroids as they soared through the air. Immediately upon contact the metal monster began to rapidly disintegrate, and by the time it helplessly shouted its name, all that was left was the handkerchief from before.

The stars flew back into her hand like boomerangs, but before she had a chance to realize it they disappeared into thin air, and she was back to her normal self. She glanced at the pile of metal dust in front of her. "Wow, I did it. I really did it!" She sure was tired, though...

"Garnet-sama! That was incredible-puru!!" Apple's little legs came running down the plaza, until he tripped over himself and fell flat on his face. Jordan giggled, helping the boy up. "Please don't call me that."

"But..."

"Just don't." Attempting to change the subject, she took a glance at the sky; already the sun was beginning to set. "Crap, I need to get home!" Apple didn't quite respond, but his face said it all - he didn't want Jordan to leave, especially not now. Of course, she couldn't just leave him here in the middle of the road.

She held her hands out to him, which was met with a confused gaze from the young bear. She tried her best to smile. "Well, are you ready to go?"

He gasped. "Really?! You mean it-puru?!"

"Yep." He stepped onto her hands, and was swept onto her shoulders once again. Although he tried to bow again, she insisted that he shouldn't if he didn't want to fall off and break his neck.

"Anyway, where do you live-puru?"

"Oh, it's, uh..." She pointed absent-mindedly in a random direction. "No, wait...um...crap, I don't know!" She had been so caught up in the battle beforehand that she had entirely forgotten how she had ended up here. "Eh...I think I'm lost..."

"Ah..." He began kicking his feet as if thinking of what to do. His big brown eyes went blank for not even a second, and suddenly it was as if a lightbulb had appeared above his head. "I think you should try the SparkTouch-puru."

The SparkTouch? Why that of all things? Nevertheless, she shrugged and began to look for the cellphone. Gosh, where was it, anyway...? Eventually she noticed a newly-formed pouch on the front of her bookbag, and reached inside. Indeed, there was the SparkTouch snug inside; and to her surprise, it turned on automatically the moment she touched it.

She observed the screen. It looked very similar to any ordinary touch-screen cellphone, with several different categories and tools to choose from. And right there, in the upper right corner, was a GPS feature! She touched that area, and a map of the city popped up.

"The blue dot is your house-puru," Apple explained. "I think..."

She glanced at the street names; yeah, that looked about right! So this thing could read her mind? Sweet! She skipped off in the direction of the arrow, going over the day's events. She had met a creature from another world and helped him find a group of fairy tale warriors. And then when she turned out to be one of them...well, goodness gracious...

As Jordan admired the orange sunset, she felt more excited than she ever had before. She felt a smile spread across her face. This Japan place sure was full of surprises!

---

ED: _cloud nine_

---

"Huwaaaa! I don't believe it! I'm actually a superhero of some sort!! And I have a cute teddy bear living with me~"

"I'm not a bear-puru! Wait...what's a bear-puru?"

"Well, you're gonna have to be one if you want this to stay secr-aaaaaaah!"

"What is it-puru?! Is it a monster?!"

"Neh...I think we may already be caught..."

Next time on Pretty Cure Precious Heart!

"Chaos at the Bookstore! We've Found the Bright Purple Gem!!"

みんなさんめいっぱいキラキラしてね！


	2. Chaos at the Bookstore!

"Mornin', Mom..."

Mizuki Kitakaze's slippers came dragging through the kitchen, the aroma of miso soup waking her up somewhat. Another routine morning...how long would her mornings be like this, she wondered? Same old breakfast, same old frizzy bedhead, same old news on the television. She smoothed out her nightgown as she sat on her pillow, wishing that once, just once, her day could start off on an unusual note...

"...And that was your local weather. Our top story today, everyone seems to be talking about the sudden appearance of a monster in the city yesterday afternoon..."

Wait, _what?!_

The story caught Mizuki so off-guard she nearly knocked over her soup, only to grab it in the nick of time. A monster? This guy wasn't serious, was he?! Was it April Fool's Day? It had to be April Fool's Day, this had to be a hoax or...or..._something_!

But it wasn't. The screen immediately transitioned to a photo of what appeared to be a giant sink, but with limbs and a head and a bluish cloth draped over it. The photo montage continued as the anchorman went on with his story.

"According to witness reports, the creature burst through the ceiling of the municipal building and immediately began wreaking havoc throughout the area. Property damage was mostly caused by mild flooding, but repairs are expected to be made immediately." She could barely swallow her soup, her eyes glued to the screen; there was no way someone could photoshop something of this magnitude.

"Amazingly, however, no one was severely injured. Only a couple minutes later, a heroine calling herself Cure Garnet appeared and defeated the monster nearly effortlessly." At that point she really did spill the bowl, but the feeling of the floor beneath her absorbing the broth did nothing to waver her amazement.

At that point the news switched to a video of the combat, further concreting the truth of this story. A young redheaded girl in a scarlet uniform leapt in from the edge of the screen, skidding to a halt as the monster tried and failed to blast her with water. Suddenly she started _flying, _and with a flip in the air, a quick toss of several...fireballs? No, they looked like shurikens. Fire shurikens? With a direct hit to the monster's chest they delivered a final blow.

Mizuki was speechless. To think, if she hadn't skipped that trip to the bookstore yesterday, she could've seen the whole thing herself! Maybe, just maybe, she would've been able to chat with this mysterious person. Why did she have such amazing powers? Perhaps some form of magic? Oh, she had so many questions now...

...But for questions, there was always the alternate source.

"Mizuki, dear, aren't you going to clean that up?"

Finally she was brought back to reality, realizing the mess she had made, both the floor and her nightgown covered with remnants of miso. "I don't particularly want the house to smell like tofu for the rest of the week..."

"Mom, I have to do something real quick!" And faster than a speeding bullet train, she sprinted to her bedroom and began eyeing her bookshelf.

_Cure Garnet...Cure Garnet..._nowhere in her vast collection of fantasy novels and guides did the words "cure" and "garnet" appear next to each other. Searching for only "cure" only gave her lists of various herbal medicines or recipes for traditional potions, so she tried "garnet," and came across a book of magical properties of gemstones. Anxiously she flipped through the thin pages, skipping past "garnet" a few times before she finally forced herself to the right page.

_From the Latin "granatum," meaning "seedlike," as they were thought to resemble pomegranate seeds. In the Middle Ages they were considered, like many red stones, to have the ability to cure blood-related illnesses and prevent bleeding. They were also thought to promote success in business..._

Well, that didn't help. Her mind spinning, she dropped to the floor in exhaustion. A part of her kept telling her to do something, _anything_, because this was her dream, and she couldn't let it loose so easily. But what could she do at this point? She was completely stuck, but in the back of her mind there was that fuzzy feeling of hope, desperately trying to expand and overtake the rest of her mind...and succeeding, very well at that.

_Have I really...found it...?_

---

OP: Ike! Precious Heart ~Kirakira Chiheisen~

---

Blake sighed. How was he going to explain this to him?

Perhaps, being his first time and all, the Meitoumei he created had been rather weak. But he certainly hadn't expected to encounter such power. Gathering and converting the energy of emotion should've been easy. After all, light, in its very nature, was supposed to be vulnerable, right? _That _certainly hadn't been. Whatever the little bear possessed in that torn-up bag of his, it put up quite a fight, and it was certainly powerful.

Powerful enough, apparently, to transform that stupid girl.

But then, he wasn't without his abilities, either. And he didn't need some prissy little light show, either; just a few stretches of his right hand. Although it wasn't exactly..._comfortable, _either. He shuddered at the thought of having to do it again...

Then again, he didn't have much of a choice.

"Servant."

Well, there was no point in delaying it now. Cautiously he opened the door once again, entering the abyss of darkness. "You called me, Master?"

"You failed your mission yesterday," he said in his monotone, computer-like voice. "I am growing impatient."

The boy had to stop himself from rolling his eyes; was there ever a time when he _wasn't _impatient? "I sincerely apologize, Master. Unfortunately there was a slight delay. A warrior of some sort, actually; I believe she called herself 'Pretty Cure'..."

"_Pretty Cure?!_" The echoes of his shouts nearly shattered his eardrums. "You...know of her, Master?"

"...Let's just say I have encountered them before," he mumbled, the red light actually calming down a bit for once. "You must act quickly, servant! There's more than one of them. Hurry and get rid of the first one before the others appear."

Blake kneeled once again. "I will do my best, Master."

"I don't need your best, I need your _success!!_" With that the light intensified, and eventually there was an irritated sigh, sounding like breaths into a microphone. "If you cannot stand against them, you will be of no use to me. Now, go and prove yourself to me. Quickly!"

He exhaled out a "yes, Master" and walked out of there as fast as he could, nearly slamming the door behind him. Was this going to be his daily routine from now on? Just standing in the middle of all that blackness exhausted him, and with a temper like that...

Well, frankly, he wasn't sure how much more he could take.

---

"本屋に大ピンチ！藤色の宝石が見つけたよ！！"

---

Cure Garnet...my name is Cure Garnet...

_Out of the pure dream space, a crayon rendition of the young Pretty Cure heroine suddenly appears in the sky. Gravity does its thing, but she pulls off a perfect landing, full of energy and ready to fight._

With the blazing power of a red jewel, Pretty Cure is here!

_Apple shyly peeks out from behind her shoulder._

Oh yeah, and there's him, too...ah, what's this thing again? A bear? A cat? An' it walks on two legs, too, so...

...Oh, who cares! The kid's adorable! Hauuuuuu...I wanna take it home~!

_A crudely-drawn monster abruptly appears from behind the city landscape, and Garnet hastily turns around, startled._

Okay! Butt-whoopin' time!!

_The fight commences, accompanied by a variety of poorly done sound effects as the warrior dodges several beams of fire from the monster's mouth. Finally she manages to get a kick at it...right in its crotch, which also defies the laws of physics and sends it flying. Yet against all odds it manages to get back up on its feet._

S-Seriously?! ...All right then, time for the final blow! Pretty Cure...

---

"...Scarlet Staaa..."

With that Jordan fell off the bed, thoroughly confused. Apple stared back at her with the cutest little smile she had ever seen, although that was partially because it was the only thing she could see through her half-asleep eyes.

"Good morning, Garnet-sama!"

It took her a while to register who was in front of her face, until she finally recognized him as the little bear from her dream. "Hauuuuu~cute little bear-chaaan~"

"N-No! Not cute-puru!" He awkwardly backed away from her reaching hand, really wishing she would wake up already. "Anyway...what would you like for breakfast-puru?"

Breakfast? Ooh, huevos rancheros...she was really craving some of that. But some sausage would be even better! Or...oh, yes, the motherload! SPICY NACHOS! "Kyaa! I looove the nachos..."

"What's a nachos-puru?" The child cocked his head. "I've never heard that word before-puru...um, it is a food, right?"

"Jordan, you'd better be getting ready for school up there!"

School...school? Oh, crap, _SCHOOL!_ Finally Jordan was snapped out of her nap, and let out a string of English cusses before sprinting to the closet and quickly slipping on her uniform. The last thing she needed was to be late on her second day!

"Garnet-sama, what's a school-puru?"

No, don't ask now! She didn't have time to answer questions! "Um...I'll explain later! I gotta go, _now!_" But just as she was about to shut the door, Apple's whimpers stopped her again...

"You're...you're going to leave me here-puru?" His confused ol' bug eyes were accompanied by occasional sniffles. "I don't know this place-puru..."

She sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. He certainly wasn't tall enough to reach the fridge handle, and she wasn't even sure if he knew how a fridge worked in the first place. In that case, she had no other option...

"You. You're coming with me." He yelped as she grabbed him by the cowlick and dropped him and his bag into the main pocket. "But you better stay quiet in there!" He nervously nodded as she zipped up and zoomed down the stairs, stuffing her toast down in four bites. Finally, she casually walked off to the front door as her father worked on his computer. "Hey, Dad, I'm leaving now!"

No response. She pouted and left in disappointment. _Busy as usual, I see..._ It seemed like he just kept getting more and more busy, especially since they had moved. But then, maybe she would be busy, too.

She observed the new pink pouch on her bag, still firmly velcroed to the front. _That's right...I'm...Pretty Cure now? _What happened yesterday...she could hardly believed she hadn't imagined it all. Just pushing a button and she became a warrior from a fairy tale...

Well, if that was what she had to do, then she would do it well, doggonit! With a newfound enthusiasm, she marched off onto the street, looking much more forward to this new day. And watching the sunrise, she began to write her own theme song in her head...

_Go, go, go, Cure Garnet!!_

---

"Hey, you doin' all right in there?"

Quickly Jordan checked her surroundings, making sure the coast was clear. With the unzipping of her bag, the little creature's head immediately popped up, gasping for air.

"Pu...I couldn't breathe in there-puru!" He took several long, deep breaths, very much enjoying being out of such a tiny space. "Why do you have so many books in there-puru? Do you hafta read all of those-puru?"

"Nah, just a chapter or two a day," _although I can barely read them as it is, _she thought to herself.

"So what are they about-puru?"

"Um...science, maths, history...y'know, school stuff," she explained. But he wouldn't know what school stuff is, would he? She supposed now was a good time to explain. "School is like...a place where you learn stuff, I guess. How to read and how to add, and what happens when you put a fork in the electrical socket."

"Really...?" That sounded so interesting; in Ivoria they were always just expected to learn things themselves. Even with that, though, he didn't know much math...and he certainly didn't know what an electrical socket was! Maybe if he attended with Garnet-sama, he wouldn't be as clueless as he was...

"I want to learn, too-puru!" So many things he wanted to know about this place...he couldn't take it! "Please?!"

But her only response was a chuckle. "You're not safe with all those people there. Just relax, you'll be fine!" With that note the bookbag was zipped shut, and he groaned as his head was forced back into the darkness. Why did he have to be shielded like this?! He didn't see why anyone would try to hurt him; he was utterly useless compared to Cure Garnet...

As he swayed his feet in thought, one of them hit something plastic, and suddenly the entire bag was filled with a violet light. Startled, he hastily ducked under his big leather sack...but once again an odd feeling of instinct bubbled up, and he felt an overwhelming urge to go find the source. Actually, it felt like it was coming from the very bag he was hiding behind...

On cautious tiptoes, he climbed up into the traveling bag, and immediately laid eyes on the light's origin. There in the corner were two SparkTouches, nearly identical to the one from yesterday; one was a pale violet with pink hearts, the other a bright yellow with orange diamonds, although only the purple one was on.

So there were two more Pretty Cures? He'd better get a start on searching! "Hey, Ga--"

...Drat, right. He was stuck here until at least noon. So what was he supposed to do...? Oh, how he wished he could participate in the learning activities Garnet-sama had told him about...

Wait. The books! If she could learn from them, why couldn't he? With all his might, he pushed open the closest textbook he could find. Goodness, who knew books could be so heavy?! Finally gravity managed to do the rest for him, but...

What were all these strange symbols? This wasn't a different language, was it?! He could talk with Jordan just fine, but maybe school was different? As he scrolled through the paragraph over and over, trying to decipher just a word of it, he gradually felt his eyelids becoming heavy. No no, don't fall asleep, not right now! But he hadn't slept since the park...and without even realizing it, his head drooped onto the page.

Soon after, Jordan zipped her bag open to get her science textbook...only to find Apple sound asleep on it. She giggled, pulling it out from under him and gently setting him on his travel sack. At least he was allowed to sleep through this borefest.

"Please, pay attention for once!"

Crap, she'd been caught! "Y-Yes, teacher!" Wait...why was everyone staring at her?

The teacher sighed. "I was talking to Kitakaze. You can sit down."

Oh. Crap. She plopped back into her seat, tired of making a fool of herself every other lesson. Bored out of her mind, she glanced at that Kitakaze girl. The student was only able to keep her focus for a few seconds, before her wavy hair fell in front of her eyes again and she began aimlessly scribbling in her cursive writing. Wow, Jordan thought, she was worse than her!

But with the teacher keeping a close eye on her now, she went back to "taking notes" (she usually just doodled anyway), wondering what the girl might be thinking about. _I sure wish I had a chance to talk to her..._

---

At last morning classes ended, and everyone sorted out their desks for lunch break. Jordan hoped her lunch was better than yesterday's plain old peanut butter sandwich. She knew her dad was busy, but he could at least put a little more effort into it.

She un-velcroed her pathetic padded lunch box (sure did look out of place compared to the others...). Sweet, Doritos! In...ranch flavor. Ick. Looks like Dad didn't bother to look at the package. She didn't particularly want that apple, either...

Apple? Crap, she hadn't had a chance to feed Apple, had she?! He must be starving by now! When no one was looking she dashed out of the classroom and unzipped her bag. "Hey Puru-chan, you awake? It's lunchtime!"

Eventually the bear stretched and allowed his eyes to open. "Garnet-sama, these books are hard to read-puru..." His stomach rumbled, and he blushed.

Let's see, what might Puru-chan like in here...? Oh, the apple! Duh! The thing was so huge, too, it could fill him up through dinner time.

"Here." She threw the apple at him. "Eat up!"

But he only stared at. "What's this-puru?"

She froze. Oh, he did not just say that. "It's an apple! Y'know, _appuru_?"

"Really-puru?!"

"You don't have apples where you come from?"

"No, I don't think so-puru..." He looked at it with an odd expression of fascination, then finally took a small bite out of the center. His expression immediately changed to one of surprise, until it slowly spread into a smile. "Good!"

She giggled. "Eat as much as you want. Try to finish up by the end of the hour here, though." She began chomping on a Cool Ranch Dorito.

What an amazing fruit this was! Nothing on the trees of Ivoria had this nice of a crunch to it. And still so juicy, too! Ah, it was dribbling a bit...turning sideways to wipe the juice off his chin, he caught a glance at something...

A girl with wavy hair was there on the other side of the doorway, her nose in a fancy book with a green cover. Or at least, it was...why was she staring at him like that? He cocked his head, and she did the same. She had such long eyelashes; it was rather pretty...

"Hey, Puru-chan, whatcha looking at...ah..."

Jordan's mood quickly spiked down. She hadn't just...seen _him, _had she?!

Before she could think another word, Kitakaze started to speak. "Um...what..."

"YOU SAW NOTHING!" She snatched up her bag and sprinted off, hoping she would just forget about it in time. But she only chased after them, holding her book to her chest in such a girlish fashion. Crap, dead end...! How she dreaded having to explain this...

"Excuse me, but...may I see it...?"

"See it? See _what? _I don't have anything, I swear! I'm just a baka gaijin desu~Ahahaha!" Silence; obviously the cheesy laughing didn't help. She sighed. "Fine. You want him, you get him. Just give him back!"

And with that she handed to her the shaking Apple, who had been holding onto his travel bag for dear life. The girl held him like a cat, stroking his head and making him more confused than ever. "What sort of animal is this?"

"Dunno. Definitely not from here, though. Some alternate dimension somewhere, I guess..."

"I-Ivoria," Apple explained. "But it isn't anything now-puru. The monsters smashed it all-puru..."

Mizuki gasped to herself. "He talks! Um, do you have a name, or..."

"Apple-puru."

"Apple..." What a sweet name. But those "monsters"...they couldn't be the same ones from the news this morning, could they? If they managed to grab a hold of more than one world, that would certainly be terrible!

"Ah, she spaced out again."

"...Oh!" She did it again! Why did she always space like that?! "I was thinking...there was a monster on the news this morning, too. I wonder if they're the same."

"Yeah, they're the same ones."

There was a moment of awkwardness as Jordan realized what she had just said. "Uh...I mean..." Dangit, she couldn't think of anything! "Sorry. I'll explain later, just...lunch is almost over, okay?"

Eventually she nodded, and walked back to the classroom. Jordan sighed in relief. Hopefully she would forget about it by the time class was over. Otherwise she'd have a lot of trouble on her hands...

---

Eventually classes were over and done with, and _souji _began once more. Jordan doubted she could get away with sneaking out again, so she was just about to get up and scrub the desks, but someone grabbed her shirt from behind...

"Hey, watch where you...ah?" Oh, that Kitakaze girl again. Why did she always stare at her that way? "Um...can I help you with something?"

The only answer she received was blushing and a bunch of stammering. Gosh, this girl was so ditzy. Finally, she managed to get something out; "Um...where's that little...you know..."

"That little what?"

"You know, the..." She tried to explain it with hand gestures, but it didn't seem to work. "What was his name? Peach or Melon or...uh...oh yeah! Apple!"

_.....Sssssshhhhhhiiiiiii--_

She was supposed to forget about that!! She was really persistent, wasn't she?! Dangit, how was she supposed to find her way out of this now...?

She blushed again, averting her gaze. "I understand if you don't want to..."

"No! Let me think about this!" Oh, lord. Oh, good lord. She barely even knew this person, how could she possibly deem her trustworthy or not?! She seemed like the kind of person who would space out and tell a secret accidentally. But then, she was so quiet anyway. She didn't seem to have much of a social life, either, so she wouldn't really have anyone to tell...

"Er, R-Rinne-san...?"

She let out a shaky sigh. "You know what? If you want to know, you can know. Just promise not to tell anyone. _Anyone. _You understand?"

The silence only lasted for a moment before Kitakaze quietly nodded, her hair falling over her face. "I promise. I don't think anyone would believe me."

Well, that part was over with. Still, a school full of people wasn't exactly the ideal place to be sharing secrets. But she didn't have a clue where else to go! She groaned; now she was right back to where she started...

Then, a lightbulb. A quiet person had to know a quiet place, right? "Ki-Kitakaze-san?"

"Hm?" She gently brushed her hair out of the way, patiently waiting for a response. Wow, she was actually focused for once. Maybe this would be a good thing for her.

Anyway. "Do you know some place quiet we could go? Like, with not much people?"

She thought for a second, then suddenly averted her gaze. "There is one place, but..."

"But what?"

"Well...I've never had other people there with me..."

"That's perfect! No one will even suspect us! It's genius!" She chuckled, praising herself in her mind for being so clever, but found her thoughts being interrupted by soft whimpering noises from behind. Initially she thought it was Apple again, but she realized this voice was too soft to be his...

She looked back; why were Kitakaze-san's eyes so filled with tears? "Ki..."

"But...but..." She took a few steps away, looking down at the floor as she wringed her hands. Jordan tilted her head in confusion. What the heck was wrong with that plan?! Even without Kitakaze having the social skills to keep much of conversation they had..._ohhhh..._

So that's what it was? Like, overwhelming social anxiety? Poor thing, she hadn't known it was _that _bad! As she watched the delicate girl in front of her trying to hold tears back, she began to have an increasing urge to try and help. And somehow it just made her all the more willing when she saw the look on Kitakaze's face the moment she laid a hand on her head.

"Come on...it's okay. You'll do great!" Upon the lack of response besides a surprised stare, she simply smirked. "Y'know what? Let's make this easier. Say your first name for me, okay?"

She sniffled. "But..." Yet as soon as realized how genuine that smile was, she started to reconsider...maybe it was at least worth a try. "Mizuki...it's Mizuki."

"Ah." An uncomfortable moment of silence followed, until Jordan finally decided it was about time to get going. "Well, if you want to see Puru-chan, we'll have to get out of here."

"Oh...yeah." With that she picked up her bag and left the classroom without a word, so quietly that it took Jordan a while to realize what had just happened. _Crap...!_

"H-hey, wait up! Do I just follow you or what?! You forgot...aw, man!" And with that she rushed out the door, making darn sure not to forget Apple like she had.

---

"Okay, Puru-chan, you can come out now!"

The bear-like creature burst out like a jack-in-the-box, taking a few shallow gasps for breath before his little mouth started motoring off. "Garnet-sama! I-In the bag, there's..." He came to an abrupt stop as he sensed another pair of eyes above him. Wasn't that the girl from earlier today...?

Mizuki's delicate hand slowly reached toward his head, and although he was initially rather nervous, he found himself oddly soothed by the gentle stroking. He was this close to falling asleep again, entranced by the girl's soft smile...

"Oh my...he sure is cute..."

...What?! "N-No! Nononono! Not cute-puru!" He hastily scampered backwards into Jordan's stomach, letting out a little groan. "Not cute, definitely not cute..."

"Puru-chan, that's a bit rude...!" Jordan shook her head, wondering how she had gotten herself into this in the first place. If he kept complaning like this, someone was going to find them! "Eh, y'know, I'm really sorry about this."

"Oh, no, it's fine." She sighed in relief; at least Mizuki-san seemed to have infinite patience. That was one thing Jordan would never learn in her lifetime.

"Garnet-sama, you don't think I'm cute, do you-puru?"

Hm? "Uh...well..." Crap, how was she supposed to answer that?!

"'Garnet-sama?'" The skinny girl's eyes suddenly widened in realization. "You mean...you...on the news...!"

Wait, she was on the news? Well, no sense in stalling it now. Her face stretched into an awkward grin as she bowed in embarrassment. "Cure Garnet. Pleased ta meetcha!"

Mizuki stared in wonder for a while, her eyes focused on Jordan as if trying to see the resemblance. Finally she averted her gaze in thought. "What...what exactly is a...'Cure Garnet?'"

"Yes, well...um...you see..." Good god, so many hard questions! What _was _she then, exactly? "I don't know a lot about it. Yesterday was my first time and all. Puru-chan had a story about ancient warriors or something, though."

Her head suddenly lifted upon hearing the word. "Story?" She nodded awkwardly in response, and her eyes seemed to brighten significantly. "May I hear this...story?"

"I don't know that too well, either..."

"I know it-puru! Really well-puru!" He suddenly stood up straight, taking a deep breath.

"It was a long time ago...back when Ivoria was just starting-puru. People were trying to decide laws an' stuff, and this one guy could use a kind of power and he said he wanted to use it to help-puru. So they let him, but the power was bad power - dark power - and he only wanted to do it for selfish things-puru. Anyway, he just kept gettin' worse and worse...and he turned into a monster-puru! He destroyed everything and everyone was in despair-puru.

"But there were these girls who had hope, and wanted real bad to make things better, and with those feelings they...they transformed into Pretty Cure-puru! And they fought the monsters and fixed everything, and everyone was happy again-puru. And when they passed the power of Pretty Cure flew into the sky, creating a beautiful light show that could be seen by everyone, before it sealed itself at the top of the world." He struggled to catch his breath. "And...that's about it-puru."

There was a calm moment as Mizuki let it all sink in, and finally she softly breathed out, "That...that's a great story."

"R-Really?! I don't think I told it too well-puru..." He blushed, backing into Jordan again. The wavy-haired girl giggled. "So, you have that power...?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess..." She carefully took out her SparkTouch, showing her the jewel on the back. "Puru-chan said he needed to get this to Pretty Cure, then that thing showed up and...I don't know, it just happened."

"You change with that?"

"Uh-huh."

"...Somehow, I don't think..."

"Yeah, it's really stupid, isn't it?" She started guffawing, but Mizuki didn't seem as amused. Geez, it was so hard to talk to this girl. "Well..." She looked around, trying to find a diversion, when Apple found it for her.

"Puru...something smells good." Upon sniffing, Jordan too smelled something really nice, like creme brulee or something. Looking for the source, she spotted a little cafe in the corner of the shop, where a young girl was refilling her stock of vanilla ice cream. Now that she thought about it, she was pretty hungry. She hadn't eaten much of her lunch...

"Hey, Mizuki-san, you want to get something to eat?" she asked, plopping Apple into her bag again.

"...Okay." Without hesitation she elegantly pushed herself up and patiently waited for Jordan to start the lead. Unfortunately, she didn't realize that until yet another moment of awkwardness occured. "Ehehe...heh..."

Could this girl even do anything normally? She certainly couldn't keep much of a conversation, and she had a feeling she didn't exactly have it together, either. Man, why did it have to be her she was stuck with of all people?

And yet...

She wasn't quite sure _why_, but she really wanted to help her get past that. It just didn't feel right thinking like this about someone like her, especially considering she barely knew her...and oddly enough, she seemed sort of interesting.

They approached the counter, and the dark-haired girl let out a cheerful "Welcome! May I help you? Oh...oh, Kitakaze-san! Who's your new friend?"

Oh god, this was embarrassing. "Hey, we're not really...uh, I'm Jordan. Anyway, that ice cream looks pretty good..."

"Gelato," Mizuki corrected.

"Authentic gelato. It's very delicious." She scooped a bit into a sampler cup, handing it to her. "Our flavor of the week is chili-chocolate. Would you like to try it?"

"Uh, sure, okay." She took a bit from the little plastic spoon into her mouth..._woah! _This stuff was awesome! The combination of bittersweetness and spiciness was amazing! "I think I'll have a scoop of this! ...I mean, please."

"Of course, miss." She swept up a scoop in a split second as if she'd been doing it all her life. "And I assume you'll be having the usual, Kitakaze-san?"

"Y-Yes."

"All righty, one white chocolate for you. Anything else?"

"No, that's all--" Her eyes suddenly fell on a tub of apple-cinnamon gelato. Well, she had to give Apple _something._ "Actually, how about some of that apple stuff to go?"

"Absolutely. Have a nice day!" She kindly waved them off as Jordan led Mizuki behind a bookshelf were the clerk wouldn't see. As they began eating their frozen treats (Apple especially enjoying his), Jordan figured she would try to start a conversation will the girl.

"So, um...you like any sports?" she inquired with a mouth full of gelato.

"Um...not really..." She ate it so neatly; she was like, perfect!

Well, that was one thing they didn't have in common. Moving on! "Well, what do you like?"

"Books. Stories," she replied.

"What kind of stories?"

"Uh..." Her face was starting to turn red, and Jordan crossed her fingers that it wasn't a bad sign. Abruptly she pulled out the green book she had been carrying. "Th-This book...I really like this book."

"Hm?" She put a hand on the book, running her fingers over its title - _Timeless Myths and Tales_. It seemed really old. How long had she had this thing? "Dang, that's awesome. I could never read this whole thing. Do you write?"

She looked down at the floor, strands of hair falling over her eyes. "S-Sometimes..."

"That's cool! What about your parents, what do they do?" It was at this point that Mizuki began quivering, whimpering under her breath. She was already _this _nervous?! "H-Hey, what's wrong? You wanna do something else or..."

"Sorry...I should go now!" With that she hastily got herself into a standing position and girlishly ran to the opposite of the rows of shelves. "Aw, I wasn't that bad, was I? Mizuki-san!"

But there was no response, and Jordan was left sitting there, wondering what she had done wrong. She knew the girl had trouble with these sort of things, but she had barely said anything! Was it her being a foreigner? Or was she just too boyish? Was that the problem?!

"Hey, Puru-chan..." He'd been so quiet all this time. "You had a nice group of friends in Ivoria, right?"

Apple lifted his head from the tub of gelato after what seemed like forever, the stuff all over his face. "Puru...not really-puru. Me an' Margie-chan were the only kids in the neighborhood-puru. I guess it was kinda lonely-puru..."

She sighed; that didn't help. "I didn't mean to scare her off like that. I just...she seemed so..."

"You seem to really like her-puru."

"I...I guess." She couldn't quite understand how she became attached to her so quickly, especially when they were absolutely nothing like each other. But she was, and she desperately wanted to get to know this girl more.

"I just thought we could be friends, y'know?"

---

She was alone. Finally, she was alone. She couldn't bear to speak another word to anyone, at least not now...

It was weird, how Jordan had acted so..._interested _all of a sudden. No one was really interested in her, she had always just blended in! At least, since the breakup...oh, she had to bring up her parents, didn't she?!

No. Don't think about that, you can get over this. Just relax. Relax and read. That always makes things better. Quickly she opened her book to a random page, and her eyes met the ending of Snow White, in which the maiden and the prince were finally happily married. Oh, how she wished she could be happy. How she wished she didn't have to keep all this to herself...

_R-Rinne-san..._

That smile had just been so...so _friendly. _It was the first time anyone had paid attention to her in forever. And yet, she continued to deny it. She doesn't really care, she doesn't like you one bit. She was entirely aware that she was lying to herself, but she just kept on doing it. Because she was scared. She was scared of losing someone again.

Maybe that wasn't the case, though? Maybe her happy ending was right in front of her? She moaned; she wasn't sure what to think...

"What seems to be the problem, miss?"

She jumped; a young man with brown, almost grey hair had approached her. "Well?"

"Um, actually..." She had began responding without thinking, and now she couldn't stop. "There's this person I met and...she's real nice, but I don't know what to do..."

"Ah, is that it?" He suddenly smirked, putting a hand in his pocket. "You should not so easily trust a person. One minute they're your best friend, the next..." Out of his pocket came a blue handkerchief - like one she'd seen somewhere before... - and with a single swipe he tossed it onto her closed book. "...They've become a monster."

Almost immediately something awful began to happen to the book, as it rapidly swelled up so that it was much too big for her to hold. Even then it continued growing, abruptly forming a pair of enraged eyes in the process. Finally, with a shout of "Meitoumei!," the creature's gaze was directed onto her...

---

~Eyecatch~

---

"You shouldn't feel bad-puru!" Apple had hopped between Jordan's legs after finally wiping his face of ice cream. "I think she does like you-puru. I'm sure things will work out-puru."

"Hehe...you think so? I don't really get Mizuki-san, but yeah, I think I'll keep trying." She finally managed to regain her energetic smile, and began tickling him from behind the ears. "Puru-chan, you're always so nice! How'd you get so nice?"

"H-Hey, quit it-puru!" They shared their giggles for a while, until Apple stopped in an instant, an uneasy expression on his face. "What's wrong, Puru-chan?"

"I...I don't feel too good-puru..." He didn't make eye contact as he said that; soon the poor thing was shaking, yet Jordan failed to notice at first.

"Ah, you ate too much gelato, didn't ya? ...Puru-chan? You aren't sick, are you?"

"Oh no...! No, it's coming-puru!"

"What's com--" Her question was interrupted by a sudden scream, followed by frantic footsteps and anxious breathing, and from behind a rectangular shadow... "Oh, no way!"

A Meitoumei? In the bookstore?! Mizuki was desperately trying to run away from the monster, only to fall over after bumping into a bookshelf. "Mizuki-san!"

Mizuki gently pushed herself off the floor. "Rinne-san...are these the..."

"Yeah. Hurry up and take Apple somewhere! I'll take care of this guy!" Before Mizuki could even respond, the young creature was shoved into her arms and she had no choice but to hide behind a bookshelf.

Quickly Jordan checked her surroundings; the gelato clerk had hid in the employee room, so she was fine. Taking a breath, she held the SparkTouch out in front of her. She was kind of nervous about doing this again, especially since the first time had been an accident for the most part. But at the same time, she was really looking forward to it. To press it or not to press it... After a few seconds she forced her thumb onto the button, and the words came to her.

"Pretty Cure Spark Aura!"

Mizuki was taken aback by a sudden flash of light, and her mouth gaped open upon seeing the shadow of Jordan inside, elegantly floating almost like a doll. With clothing appearing on her at an amazing rate, it finally sank in; this was entirely real. She wasn't dreaming it! And now that she had finally found what she was looking for, she wasn't sure what to do...

At last the light disappeared in a flurry of sparkles, and she could barely believe her eyes. In Jordan's place, the redheaded fighter from the news was right in front of her, her determined face punctuated by a flaming in her endless red eyes.

"The blazing heart of a bright red jewel, Cure Garnet!"

"It...it's Cure Garnet!" The heroine grinned and waved upon catching in her eye Apple cheering from behind and Mizuki speechless in disbelief, making her entirely vulnerable to the Meitoumei's cover slamming her in the face. Briefly stunned, she quickly got herself together and began delivering a series of rapid punches to the monster, but it was obvious they had little effect.

And yet she just kept on punching. Blake, hanging from the ceiling in the distance, rolled is eyes; what an _idiot_. Surely she should've concluded by now that the book's cover was unable to be penetrated. He smirked; he had put a lot of strength into this Meitoumei. Not only was it covered by a powerful shield, but its edges also posed a considerable threat.

Unfortunately Garnet learned this the hard way. By this time she had switched to kicking, and her leg just happened to come out at the wrong angle...

She winced in pain as a considerable gash was sliced into her knee and she fell to the ground. Mizuki screamed at the sight of the injury, allowing her to be spotted by the monster. Despite her injury, Jordan got up on her feet and shielded her from view as quickly as she could. "You need to hide somewhere else! Hurry, I'll distract him!"

"But...Rinne-san, you're hurt!"

"Just _do it_!" Mizuki was quite startled by her sudden irritated tone, and she immediately crawled to the center of the bookshelf as fast as she could, whilst carrying Apple in one hand. Although she couldn't see the fight now, from the sounds she produced Jordan was clearly having a difficult time. She cringed at every single yelp and grunt she heard; no one should be forced to go through something like this!

"A-Apple-chan..." The trembling boy had his eyes tight shut, desperately trying to ignore the disaster behind him. "Rinne-san will be okay, right?"

He took several deep breaths as he attempted to calm himself down. "She should be-puru. 'Cause she's Pretty Cure an' all."

"Yes, but..." Abruptly the punches and kicks stopped, and she knew something had to be wrong. After hesitating a bit, she managed to peek from above the bookshelf...and there was the heroine, tightly trapped in the monster's jaws, struggling to break free but to no avail. "Rinne-san! Rinne-san!"

She attempted to respond, but this only caused the giant bat from above (was that the strange man from before?) to beckon the mindless thing to tighten its grasp. Oh god, this was terrible! What should she do?! One wrong move and any chance of her happy ending would be gone...

But was there really a happy ending there? What if she had just been faking being nice? And even if she wasn't, wouldn't she end up hating her anyway? She slouched into depression once again; there was no way...

"What's wrong-puru?" It wasn't until this point that she noticed the tears streaking down her cheeks, which only seemed to further her decision. "I just feel like...no one cares about me..."

"Why would anyone think that-puru?! That's impossible-puru!" The crying girl above him didn't respond; but he knew there had to be someone! "Garnet-sama, she...she tried real hard to make friends-puru."

Her eyes widened instantly. That had all been genuine?! "R-Really? Are you sure?"

He nodded and smiled. "She said she wanted to help-puru. I think she likes you a lot-puru."

Mizuki's arms shook around the boy. At last she had found someone she could trust, someone who understood what she was going through. And now, for the first time in what seemed like forever, she actually felt that comfort was in her grasp. But if Jordan was gone - which seemed to be an awfully close possibility - all that would be gone. And she didn't want to lose that! No, she just couldn't bear to let that happen! She...she had to do _something! _And before she could even think about what the heck she was doing, she found herself up on her feet...

"Rinne-san, noooo!"

The bat boy just barely flinched upon the wavy-haired girl forcing her arms under his creation. What did she think she was doing?! Apparently this town was more full of idiots than he thought; no matter, she'd get herself killed in a minute or two anyway.

Jordan took a refreshing stretch. Thank god she had some room! Come to think of it, though, she hadn't really done anything. So why did it... "Mizuki-san?!"

"R-Rinne-san..." Tears came to her eyes again. "Rinne-san, please don't fight anymore! 'Cause if you're gone, I won't have anyone left!"

At first she wasn't sure what to say. She had honestly thought she had scared her away for good! But she couldn't let herself get hurt like that, especially since she could've sworn the thing was starting to grow teeth, and sharp ones at that. "Look, I can take care of this, you just..."

She shook her head. "It's for my...for _our _happy ending! I won't give it up! I like being with you, Rinne-san!"

And that..._that _was what really got her. Maybe it was just the situation they were in right now, or the fact that she never really had a friend that wasn't a guy before...but whatever the reason was, she felt the happiest she ever had since moving here. Unfortunately the moment didn't last long, as the Meitoumei was increasing in strength and vigorously fighting back, and at the rate things were going it wouldn't be long before Mizuki was crushed and torn up by those awful-looking fangs...

And then, there was a lavender-colored ring of light out of the corner of her eye. She let out a gasp; something in her school bag was shining, and Apple's gaze slowly turned from the squirming object inside to Mizuki's tired face. "Puru...she...you're the...!"

All of a sudden whatever was in there burst into the air in a streak of light (creating a rather large hole in her bag), at which point it gently floated down in a flurry of sparkles, somehow acting as a repellant to the monster. All that time Mizuki's wide eyes were fixated on it, and she reached out her quivering hands so it could land - a violet SparkTouch, glowing intensely in her palms.

"No way! Another Pretty Cure?" She jumped upon hearing that, although she didn't seem to be able to look away from the SparkTouch. "I...I'm a P...P...Pu..." Jordan put a hand on her shoulder, as if to say _It's okay, just say it. _Finally it became too much, and she took a single breath.

"Pretty Cure...Spark Aura!"

Immediately the purplish light surrounded her, lifting her onto her feet and just above the ground. Jordan's face widened into an excited smile as she watched; Blake, on the other hand, was much less thrilled. There were two of them already! He had been so close to getting rid of that first one, too! He attempted to strike the chrysalis of light, but the red one kept on blocking his attacks, and by the time he had pushed her out of the way it was already too late.

The light gently burst and dissolved away, and from it emerged a gorgeous young girl, hair light blonde and eyes bright blue, a determined expression on her face. Her wide skirt swayed as she elegantly posed. "The glittering heart of a bright violet jewel, Cure Amethyst!"

"You look awesome!" The newborn heroine was snapped back to herself by a sudden embrace from her teammate. What had just happened? She couldn't really remember the past few minutes. "G-Garnet, I don't..." And why did she feel better calling her that?

She winked with a playful smile. "You were great back there...Amethyst!"

_Amethyst...? _Where had she heard that before? In a flash she remembered; she had been trying to save Jordan, and some odd sort of machine fell into her hands and she had started to feel awfully strange. And then Jordan had said she was...

_...!!!_

She looked at her new self in realization. It was true! She had completely changed! Slowly she looked back up at Jordan. "Cure Amethyst...that's me, right?" Her response was a chuckle and a cheesy smile, and she couldn't help but laugh.

Unforunately at that moment the Meitoumei came charging toward them. Jordan instantly regained her focus and leapt onto the book's binding, managing to knock it down on its side. Just as she was about to push it open, though, she noticed her new teammate just standing there and watching. "Well, are you gonna something?"

"What should I do?"

"Just...whatever you feel like doin'!" What she felt like doing... As she opened the monster's jaws, there was one thing that came to mind. She had a weird sort of feeling in her hands, and she had this suspicion that if she let it out...

Her palms started glowing blue, and soon words started coming out of her mouth. "Feel the power of a glittering heart! Pretty Cure Azure Twist!!" The light in her hands became a spiraling beam, forcing the creature's mouth wide open. Now Jordan had her chance! "Now, Garnet!"

"Got it." She prepared for attack, and stars appeared in her hands. "Feel the power of a blazing heart! Pretty Cure Scarlet Star!!" The fire spread over the paper in an instant, and the Meitoumei could barely shout its name before being reduced to dust.

_Lord, that was fast. _Blake was stunned, but he didn't have much of a choice other than to retreat. Come to think of it, maybe he could stick around a bit; he reversed back to his human form and took a seat on a bench outside.

The two changed back to normal, and Mizuki looked in disappointment at the pile of ash before them. "My book..."

Jordan set a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. I'll make it up to you, I promise. In the meantime..." She grinned. "I don't know much about you yet!"

---

"Your parents split?!" Mizuki quietly nodded; it was hard enough to just talk to someone so freely like this, let alone about issues like this. But she had tried really hard this time, and so far things seemed to be going well. "My dad, he...he left for someone else. So I never see him now."

"Oh, wow...I really should've been more careful with that." Jordan took a big bite of her gelato - on the house this time, since the rest had melted and been stomped upon during the battle. "I guess I should thank you for helping me out back there, too."

She blushed. "I-I wasn't really thinking about it or anything..."

"Don't be so modest about it! You were great!"

She sighed; Jordan was always so nice about everything. "This is weird, you know? I haven't had any friends in a long time..."

"I'm starting on a clean slate too, more or less." She smiled; that friendly old smile. "But I'm willing to try if you do."

Wringing her hands for a moment, she finally nodded firmly. "I will. I promise."

There was a pleasant silence for a while as they both enjoyed their gelato. After a while Jordan started digging in her bag. "Still, didn't know there was another one in there. I wonder if..."

And there it was - another SparkTouch, yellow in color. "There's three Pretty Cures-puru," Apple explained. "I tried to tell you before, but...Amethyst-sama was there and you got ice cream and..."

"Ah, don't sweat it." She observed her new discovery. "One more, eh? What kinda person do you think it'll be?"

"Um..." That was a tough question; how could one depicher a person from an object? "Yellow is a happy color, so...maybe a happy person?"

"Ehehe, that's a bit generic..."

"The button is shaped like a diamond, isn't it? What could that mean...?"

Did diamonds even mean anything? This was making her head hurt; she didn't want to think about this anymore. "Well, I think we'll know who it is when we find her." Or was it a him? Didn't she just tell herself to stop thinking about it?! "I should get home anyway..."

"Oh, all right. I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow." They said their farewells and walked their separate ways, both looking forward to what sort of adventures might appear.

Blake, meanwhile, peeked under his newspaper and smirked. There were three of them, then? In that case, he would make sure the third would never be found.

---

ED: _cloud nine_

---

"Garnet-sama, why are these books so hard to read-puru?"

"Because Japanese is just hard. You learn to live with it eventually."

"But I don't know what Japanese is-puru..."

"Geh! You serious?! You're speaking it right now!"

"Really-puru?! This is just how everyone in Ivoria talks-puru..."

"Apple-chan, what kind of place is Ivoria, anyway?"

"Nevermind Ivoria! He barely has a grasp of where he is now!"

Next time on Pretty Cure Precious Heart!

"Special City Tour Guides! I Want to Learn About Earth!"

みんなさんめいっぱいキラキラしてね！


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